Method and apparatus for correlation of intersections of network resources

ABSTRACT

One particular implementation of the present invention may take the form of a method for correlating partial views of network resources into normalized or aggregated views for use by an administrator. The implementation may compare a newly detected resource against the known set of normalized resources of the network to correlate the new resource with an existing network resource. More particularly, one method for correlating network resources may compare key/value pairs associated with a new resource with key/value pairs associated with a first normalized resource. If the new resource does not correlate to the first normalized resource, the method may then compare the key/value pairs of the new resource to the key/value pairs of the second normalized resource. A second implementation may compare a unique key/value pair to a map containing the unique key/value pairs of each normalized resource, until the unique key/value pair is found. Once a normalized resource is found with the same unique key/value pair, each remaining key/value pair of the new resource may be compared with the key/value pairs of the matching normalized resource. If the key/value pairs for each resource matches, then the new resource correlates to the normalized resource.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention relate to management of system ornetwork resources. More particularly, aspects of the present inventioninvolve a method and apparatus for correlation of system or networkresources to avoid presenting multiple views of the same managedresource to a system administrator.

BACKGROUND

A network is an interconnected group of computers and resources thatallows communication between the resources connected to the network.Networks may be comprised of only a few network resources or up tothousands of resources all communicating over the same network. Further,communication over the network may take place even though the resourcesconnected to the network may be located around in the world. A networkmay further be divided into interconnected sub-networks, with someresources having a network presence on multiple sub-networks.

Networks are generally managed and monitored by an administrator orgroup of administrators that structure the network and network resourcesto facilitate the sharing of information. To manage the network, theadministrators may access and configure the various resources connectedto the network. A variety of access methods exist that allow networkadministrators access to the different resources of the network. Somecommon access methods include simple network management protocol (SNMP),telnet, secure shell (SSH), intelligent platform management interface(IPMI) and command line interfaces (CLI).

Each network resource may be accessed through one, a few, or many accessmethods and through one or through multiple sub-networks. For example,an administrator may access a router using the SNMP management accesspoint from any of the sub-networks to which the router is connected. Theadministrator may also access the same router using an SSH managementaccess point from any of these sub-networks. Further, each managementaccess point may provide a different set of management options forconfiguring the resource depending on the management access pointchosen. For example, accessing the router using SNMP may provide aread-only view of the router's configuration, and provide the ability toraise asynchronous notifications when there are error conditions.However, to perform administrative changes to the router, such aspowering it off, it may be necessary to use the SSH management accesspoint of that same router. This SSH access point may provide the abilityto power-down and reconfigure the router, but may not have the abilityto send asynchronous notifications to the administrator about errorconditions. Thus, each management access point to each resourceconnected to the network may provide the administrator with a differentset of management options.

Each management access point to a resource may be referred to a partialview of the resource. Thus, multiple partial views of each resourceconnected to the network may be provided to an adminstrator or group ofadministrators. Each resource may be accessed through multiplemanagement access points, thereby provided many partial views of theresource. Hence, an administrator desiring to access a resource tomanage the network may be faced with multiple partial views of theresource. In addition, since each management access point may be exposedthrough multiple sub-networks, the number of access points to theresource are increased. Traditionally, it has been assumed that theadministrator knows which view of the resource is needed to perform thedesired maintenance on the network resource. For example, theadministrator must know that to power down the router, he must manuallylog into the router rather than access the router using IPMI. Inaddition, traditionally, the administrator is expected to know thatdifferent views across multiple sub-networks of the same resourceactually refer to the same underlying resource.

SUMMARY

As shown above, most traditional networks provide multiple partial viewsof the network resources to an administrator. However, it may be helpfulto the administrator to provide a view of all of the unique resourcesconnected to the network rather than a series of partial views ofseparate access points. One method of providing a view of all of theunique resources of a network is to correlate all partial views of aresource into a single normalized or aggregated view. Through thenormalized view of the network resource, an administrator may performthe network management on each resource without having to recall whichmanagement access point is best suited for each task. Thus, what isneeded is a method to correlate partial views of a network resource intoa single, normalized view to assist in the management of the network.

One aspect of the present invention involves a method for managing anetwork. The method may include operations for detecting a new resourceon a network comprising at least one existing resource and determiningwhether the new resource is a partial view of the at least one existingresource. Further, the method may correlate the new resource with the atleast one existing resource.

Another aspect may involve a system for managing a network. The systemmay include a detecting module configured to detect a new resource onthe network comprising at least one existing resource. The system mayalso include a comparing module configured to compare the new resourcewith the at least one existing resource to determine if the new resourceis a partial view of the at least one existing resource. Further, thesystem may include a correlating module configured to correlate the newresource with the at least one existing resource.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network.

FIG. 2 illustrates multiple partial views of several network resourcesaggregated into unique normalized resources of a network.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a first embodiment that correlatespartial views of network resources into a single normalized view forthat resource.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a second embodiment correlatingnetwork resources in a linear fashion.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a third embodiment correlatingnetwork resources using sieving techniques.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of an exemplary interface provided to anadministrator for managing a network resource.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One particular implementation of the present invention may take the formof a method for correlating partial views of network resources intonormalized or aggregated views for use by an administrator. Theimplementation may compare a newly detected resource against the knownset of normalized resources of the network to correlate the new resourcewith an existing network resource.

More particularly, one method for correlating network resources maycompare key/value pairs associated with the network resources todetermine if a new resource correlates with a normalized resource. Tocorrelate the new resource with the set of normalized resources of thenetwork, the key/value pairs of the new resource may be compared to thekey/value pairs of the normalized resource in a linear fashion. Thus,the method may compare the key/value pairs of the new resource to thekey/value pairs of the first normalized resource. If the new resourcedoes not correlate to the first normalized resource, the method may thencompare the key/value pairs of the new resource to the key/value pairsof the second normalized resource. This method may continue until acorrelation of the resources is found or the new resource has beencompared to every normalized resource in the network.

Another implementation may include a method to compare the key/valuepairs of the new resource to the key/value pairs of the normalizedresources through a sieving process. In this embodiment, a uniquekey/value pair of the new resource may be compared to a map containingthe unique key/value pairs of each normalized resource, until the uniquekey/value pair is found. Once a normalized resource is found with thesame unique key/value pair, each remaining key/value pair of the newresource may be compared with the key/value pairs of the matchingnormalized resource. If the key/value pairs for each resource matches,then the new resource correlates to the normalized resource. If thekey/value pairs for the new resource do not match the key/value pairsfor a normalized resource, then a new normalized resource may be createdfrom the new resource.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network 100. Thenetwork 100 depicted includes a switch 105, a router 110, a usercomputer 115 and an admin computer 120. However, these components areincluded as mere examples of possible resources included in a network.Those skilled in the art will recognize that a network may beconstructed of many different resources, including but not limited tothe resources shown in FIG. 1. Network 100 allows information to bepassed between the resources 105-120 connected to the network 100 insuch a manner that the resources 105-120 connected to the network 100may communicate. Networks may include anywhere from a few networkresources to thousands of resources all communicating over the network.

Network 100 may be managed and monitored by an administrator or group ofadministrators to structure the network 100 and network resources tofacilitate the sharing of information. To manage the network 100, anadministrator may access the various resources connected to the network100 to configure the flow of information. The administrator may accessthe resources of the network through the admin computer 120 or he mayaccess the resources remotely by logging onto the network 100. Byaccessing the different resources of the network 100, the administratormay configure, allocate, deploy and coordinate the network resources105-120 to maximize and facilitate the communication and sharing ofinformation across the network 100. A large number of access methodsexist to assist in managing the network resources. Some common accessmethods include, but are not limited to, simple network managementprotocol (SNMP), telnet, secure shell (SSH), intelligent platformmanagement interface (IPMI) and command line interfaces (CLI). Thoseskilled in the art will recognize the many varied ways to access networkresources, either by directly or by remotely logging into the network.

The network resources 105-120 of network 100 may be accessed through thevarious methods described above. For example, an administrator mayaccess router 110 using the SNMP management access point. Similarly, anadministrator may access router 110 using an IMPI management accesspoint. Further, the router 110 may be access by directly logging intothe router 110 itself to configure the router's 100 setup. Thus, eachresource 105-120 connected to the network 100 may be accessed throughthe various managing access points described above. Further still, manyresources connected to network 100 may contain multiple IP addressesthat provide a different set of management access points. Thus, forexample, an administrator may access switch 105 using a first IP addressassigned to the switch 105 to manage the switch resource. This first IPaddress assigned to the switch 105 may include a set of managementaccess points. An administrator may also access the switch 105 through asecond IP address assigned to the switch 105. The second IP address mayinclude a different set of management access points as that of the firstIP address. Thus, an administrator may access switch 105 through eitherthe first or the second IP address assigned to switch 105, depending onthe type of management activity useful to the administrator.

Each management access point may provide a different set of managementoptions depending on the management access point chosen. For example,accessing switch 105 using an SSH management access point may providethe administrator the ability to configure the flow of informationthrough the switch 105. However, the administrator may have to log ontothe switch 105 directly from the switch terminal if the administratordesires to power down the switch 105. Thus, each management access pointto each resource connected to the network 100 may provide theadministrator with a different set of management options.

Thus, multiple partial views of each resource connected to the network100 may be provided. Each resource may be accessed through multiplemanagement access points and multiple IP addresses, thereby providedmany partial views of the resource. An administrator desiring to accessa resource to manage the network may be faced with multiple partialviews of the resource. Traditionally, it has been assumed that theadministrator knows which partial view of the resource is needed toperform the desired maintenance on the network resource. However, it maybe helpful to present to the administrator a view of all of the uniqueresources connected to the network. Thus, all of the partial views ofone network resource may be aggregated together and presented to theadministrator. Through this, the administrator may access the aggregatedview of the resource to accomplish all necessary administrative tasks onthat resource.

FIG. 2 illustrates multiple partial views of several network resourcesaggregated into unique resources of the network. Box 200 includesseveral aggregated network resources, including a switch 204, a router206 and a user computer 208. The aggregated, or normalized, networkresources 204-208 may be connected to a network and managed by anadministrator to facilitate the sharing of information between theresources 204-208 as described above.

Box 202 includes several partial views of network resources 204-208.Switch SSH 210 represents a management access point for switch resource204 using a SSH access point. Switch telnet 212 represents a managementaccess point for switch resource 204 using a telnet access point. RouterIPMI 214 represents a management access point to router 206 using anIPMI access point. Router IP address one 216 represents the managementaccess point of router 206 through a first IP address assigned to therouter 206. Router IP address two 218 represents the management accesspoint of router 206 through a second IP address assigned to the router206. User computer log-in 220 represents the management access point ofuser computer 208 by logging into user computer 208. The partial viewsof network resources 204-208 depicted in box 202 represent a few of themany possible partial views possible for the network resources 204-208shown.

As stated above, it may be helpful to present to the administrator of anetwork a single, unique view for all of the network resources ratherthan presenting all of the partial views of the network resources. Thus,partial views switch SSH 210 and switch telnet 212 may be aggregatedtogether to present switch resource 204 to the administrator. Thus, theadministrator may be presented with a normalized switch resource 204 toperform management tasks on the switch 204 through both managementaccess points provided, namely SSH and telnet. In this manner, theadministrator may perform all management tasks of the switch resourceprovided by SSH and telnet without having to access the separate partialviews of the switch resource 204. Similarly, partial views router IPMI214, router IP address one 216 and router IP address two 218 may beaggregated together to present router resource 206 to the administrator.The administrator may be presented with the normalized router resource206 to access the router connected to the network through the IPMImanagement access point provided as well as through both IP addressesassigned to the router resource 206. In this manner, the administratormay perform all management tasks of the router resource 206 provided bythe network without having to access the separate partial views of therouter resource 206. By providing normalized resources 204-208 of thenetwork resources, the administrator may manage the network withouthaving to be aware of which partial view of the resource provides whichmanagement options. Instead, each normalized resource 204-208 mayinclude all available management choices for that resource.

To present normalized views of each network resource to theadministrator, correlation of each partial view of a single networkresource may take place. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a firstembodiment that correlates partial views of network resources into asingle normalized view for that resource. The normalized view of thenetwork resource may include all of the available management accesspoints for that resource.

The embodiment may begin in operation 305 when a new resource isdetected. The detected resource may be a physical addition to thenetwork, such as a new switch or router added to the network, or the newresource may be a newly discovered partial view of an existing resourceof the network. For example, a partial view of an existing resource maybe discovered when an administrator pings all of the known networkaddresses using the separate methods to access a resource, such astelnet or SSH. Through this discovery process, a new partial view of anexisting network resource that was previously unknown may be found.Similarly, a new partial view may also be declared by the administrator.For example, an administrator may prevent access to a network resourcethrough a particular access point. However, it may become useful to openthat access point to the resources based on network usage. Thus, theadministrator may open the access point to the resource and declare theaccess point open to the rest of the network. Thus, a new partial viewof a network resource may be detected.

Once a new partial view of a network resource is detected, the newresource may be compared to each existing normalized resource of thenetwork until a correlation is found in operation 310. Embodiments ofmethods to compare the new resource to the existing normalized resourcesof the network are depicted in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. In general, any methodthat provides a way for the new resource to be compared to thenormalized resources of the network to correlate the new resource with anormalized resource is envisioned.

In one embodiment, a collection of key/value pairs describing featuresof the new resource may be compared to a group of key/value pairsdescribing features of the normalized resource. For example, the newresource may have a key/value pair describing what device type of thenew resource. Thus, the new resource may have a key/value pair of devicetype/router. This key/value pair may be compared to a similar key/valuepair of the normalized resource. For example, the normalized resourcemay also contain key/value pair of device type/router. Other key typesmay include IP addresses, serial numbers or Ethernet MAC addresses. Ingeneral, any feature of the resources may be used as a key to comparethe features of the network resources. By comparing multiple key/valuepairs associated with the new resource to each normalized resource, itmay be determined that the new resource correlates with an existingnormalized resource and the new resource may then be merged into thenormalized resource.

If, after comparing the new resource to the normalized resources, acorrelation between the resources is not found in operation 310, thenthe new resource may be a new addition to the network. In this case, anew normalized resource may be created from the newly detected resourcein operation 315. Through the method depicted in FIG. 3, newly detectedresources may be correlated to existing normalized resources to providean administrator with normalized views of all of the network resources.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a second embodiment for correlatingnetwork resources in a linear fashion. The flow chart of FIG. 4 maydepict one embodiment of operation 310 of FIG. 3. The flow chart of FIG.4 may compare a new resource against each normalized resource of thenetwork individually until a correlation is found or a new normalizedresource is created.

Beginning in operation 402, a key/value pair associated with the newresource may be retrieved. For example, the detected new resource mayhave a key/value pair of device type/operating system (OS). After thekey/value pair is retrieved, a normalized resource of the network may bescanned to determine if the normalized resource has a similar key inoperation 404. Continuing the above example, a normalized resource ofthe network may be scanned to determine whether the normalized resourcehas a device type key associated with it. If the normalized resourcedoes not have a similar key, then it may be determined if the newresource includes any more key/value pairs in operation 416. If the newresource does not have any more key/value pairs associated with it, thennone of the key/value pairs associated with the new resource match withthe key/value pairs associated with the normalized resource and the newresource may not correlate to the normalized resource, as shown inoperation 408. However, if the new resource has more key/value pairsassociated with it, the next key/value pair may be retrieved inoperation 402.

If the normalized resource has a similar key when scanned in operation404, the values associated with the matching keys may be compared inoperation 406. If the values associated with the matching keys are notequal, then the new resource may not correlate with the normalizedresource, as shown in operation 408. If the values do match, the newresource and the normalized resource correlate for that key/value pairin operation 410. Continuing the above example, if the normalizedresource has a device type/OS key/value pair associated with it similarto that of the key/value pair of the new resource, then the new resourceand the normalized resource correlate for this key/value pair.

If it is determined in operation 408 that the new resource and thenormalized resource may not correlate, then the new resource may then becompared to the next normalized resource beginning again in operation402. In this manner, the flow chart depicted in FIG. 4 may be performedfor every normalized resource in the network, until a correlationbetween the new resource and a normalized resource is found. After acorrelation is found, the new resource may be merged into the normalizedresource to present a normalized view to an administrator that includesthe new partial view.

Assuming that the key/value pair of the new resource and the normalizedresource match in operation 410, it may be determined whether any morekey/value pairs are associated with the new resource in operation 412.If key/value pairs associated with the new resource remain, the nextkey/value pair associated with the new resource is retrieved inoperation 402 and the comparison of that key/value pair to thenormalized resource is conducted as described above. Continuing theabove example, assume that both the new resource and the normalizedresource have a key/value pair device type/OS associated with them.After determining the key/value pairs correlate in operation 410, it maybe determined if the new resource has any remaining key/value pairs inoperation 412. Assume the new resource has a second key/value pair, IPaddress/172.16.254.1. This key/value pair may be retrieved in operation402 and the above operations may compare the second key/value pairagainst a similar key/value pairs associated with the normalizedresource. These operations may continue until all key/value pairsassociated with the new resource have been compared with the key/valuepairs of the normalized resources.

If it is determined that all of the key/value pairs associated with thenew resource has been compared to the normalized resource in operation412, then it may be assumed that the new resource and the normalizedresource correlate in operation 414. Thus, it may be assumed that thenew resource is a partial view of the normalized resource and that thepartial resource may then be merged into the normalized resource forpresentation to an administrator. Further, once a correlation is foundfor the new resource, the embodiment may cease searching through thenormalized resources for a correlation.

As stated above, the above operations may be performed for everynormalized resource of the network until a correlation is found or it isdetermined that the new resource cannot be correlated and a newnormalized resource is created. Thus, the above operations must beperformed on an order of n̂2 (O(n̂2)) times for each new resource detectedon the network, with n being the number of new resources detected on thenetwork. A more efficient embodiment to compare the new resource withthe existing normalized resources of the network is depicted in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a third embodiment correlatingnetwork resources using sieving techniques. The flow chart of FIG. 5 maydepict an embodiment of operation 310 of FIG. 3. The flow chart of FIG.5 may compare a new resource against each normalized resource of thenetwork collectively using a unique key/value pair of the new resourceuntil a correlation is found or a new normalized resource is created. Aunique key/value pair is one that is likely to be associated with onlyone normalized resource. For example, a key/value pair of type/servermay be shared by many resources on the network, presumably every serverof the network. On the other hand, a key/value pair of a serial numberor MAC address is likely to be unique to only one resource on thenetwork. However, because each management access point may provide adifferent unique key/value pair for a normalized resource, it may not bepossible to use the same unique key/value pair for every new resource tocompare to the unique key/value pairs of the normalized resources.Therefore, a map containing all unique key/value pairs for everynormalized resource on the network may be maintained to provide suchinformation during correlation.

Beginning in operation 502, a unique key/value pair associated with thenew resource may be retrieved. For example, the detected new resourcemay have a unique key/value pair of serial number/12345. In operation504, a map containing the unique key/value pairs of the normalizedresources may be accessed to determine each normalized resource with thesame unique key/value pair. Thus, if the retrieved key/value pair equalsserial number/12345, a map of all normalized resources may be accessedto determine all of the matching normalized resources with serialnumber/12345.

In operation 506, each remaining key/value pair of the new resource maythen be compared with the key/value pairs of the determined normalizedresources. In the above example, the remaining key/value pairs of thenew resource may be compared with each normalized resource found to havea unique key/value pair of serial number/12345.

If none of the remaining normalized resources match in operation 508,than it may be assumed that no normalized resource correlates with thenew resource in operation 510. In this case, a new normalized resourcemay be created and the new resource may be merged into the created newnormalized resource.

If one of the normalized resources matches the new resource in operation508, than the new resource may correlate with the remaining normalizedresource in operation 512. Because all key/value pairs of the newresource have been compared to the list of possible normalized resourcescorrelations, only one normalized resource should remain. Once acorrelation with a normalized resource is found, the new resource may bemerged with the normalized resource for presentation to anadministrator.

Because the operations depicted in FIG. 5 are performed once for everykey/value pair associated with the new resource, the number ofoperations performed is the number of key/value pairs associated withthe new resource. Thus, because the number of key/value pairs associatedwith any resource is likely small, the operations depicted in FIG. 5 mayrequire much less processing power to complete when compared with otherembodiments and can be determined in a constant time O(1) whatever thesize of the set of already correlated resources, rather than in O(n̂2)time.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of an exemplary interface provided to anadministrator for managing a network resource. As explained above, thenormalized resource may be presented to a user or administrator so thatthe user may manage the network resources. The normalized resource mayinclude all of the partial views of the resource that has been detectedon the network. Further, each partial view of the resource may presentthe user with a separate set of management actions that may be taken onthe resource to configure and manage the network.

The screenshot 600 presented in FIG. 6 shows one possible interface thata user may use to manage the network resources. The screenshot 600depicts the management of a normalized server resource located on anetwork. The normalized server resource may include a set of actionsthat a user may perform to configure the server, as shown in drop-downmenu 602. The normalized view of each resource presented to the user maycontain actions that are specific to each normalized resource, dependingon the type of device and partial views of the resource that have beendetected.

As new partial views of the server shown in the screenshot 600 aredetected as explained above, a new list of actions available to the userfor configuring the server may be presented. Each newly detected partialview may provide a set of new actions that may be utilized by a user toconfigure the server. Thus, while the instance of the normalizedresource presented to the user may not change as new partial views aredetected on the network, the correlated partial views may provide newcapabilities to manage the normalized resource. These new capabilitiesmay be presented in the drop-down menu 602 as the partial views of thenetwork resource are correlated with the normalized view. Through thedetection and correlation of partial views, the available actions tomanage the normalized network resources may be built.

Although depicted as a drop-down menu style interface in screenshot 600,the user interface displaying the normalized resources to the user maytake many forms. For example, the normalized view may be a list ofpossible actions that may be taken on the resource, with certain itemsgrayed out or missing if some capabilities are not available for thatresource. Further, each normalized resource may be presented as icons tothe user. Those skilled in the art will recognize the various methods topresent a user with a user interface to manage a network.

It should be noted that the flowcharts of FIG. 3-5 are illustrativeonly. Alternative embodiments of the present invention may addoperations, omit operations, or change the order of operations withoutaffecting the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention.Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments willbe apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein.It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be ableto devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although notexplicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of theinvention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. From the above description and drawings, it will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particularembodiments shown and described are for purposes of illustrations onlyand are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.References to details of particular embodiments are not intended tolimit the scope of the invention.

1. A method for managing a network, the method comprising: detecting anew resource on a network comprising at least one existing resource;determining whether the new resource is a partial view of the at leastone existing resource; and correlating the new resource with the atleast one existing resource.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: correlating the new resource with the at least one existingresource in the event the new resource is a partial view of the at leastone existing resource, the partial view of the at least one existingresource including a newly detected access point; and generating a newnormalized resource view of the new resource in the event that the newresource is not a partial view of the at least one existing resource ofthe network.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining operationfurther comprises: matching a plurality of key/value pairs associatedwith the new resource with a plurality of key/value pairs associatedwith the at least one existing resource of the network; and determiningthat the new resource correlates with the at least one existing resourceof the network if the plurality of key/value pairs associated with thenew resource matches the plurality of key/value pairs associated withthe at least one existing resource of the network.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the correlating operation further comprises: merging thepartial view of the at least one existing resource with a normalizedview of the at least one existing resource; and providing the mergednormalized view of the at least one existing resource to a network userthrough a user interface, wherein the network user may access thenormalized view of the at least one existing resource through the userinterface to alter the configuration of the at least one existingresource on the network to manage the network.
 5. The method of claim 4wherein the normalized view of the at least one existing resourceincludes at least one access point to manage the at least one existingresource and the partial view of the at least one existing resourceincludes a newly detected access point to manage the at least oneexisting resource.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the mergednormalized view of the at least one existing resource includes the atleast one access point to manage the at least one existing resource andthe newly detected access point to mange the at least one existingresource.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the network user may managethe at least one existing resource on the network by altering theconfiguration of the at least one existing resource through the accesspoints included in the merged normalized view of the at least oneexisting resource presented to the network user through the userinterface.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining operationfurther comprises: matching a plurality of key/value pairs associatedwith the new resource to a plurality of key/value pairs associated witha first one of a plurality of existing resources of the network.
 9. Themethod of claim 8 further comprising: matching the plurality ofkey/value pairs associated with the new resource to a plurality ofkey/value pairs associated with a second one of the plurality ofexisting resources of the network in the event that the key/value pairsassociated with the new resource do not match the plurality of key/valuepairs associated with the first one of the plurality of existingresources of the network.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein thedetermining operation further comprises: matching a unique key/valuepair of a plurality of key/value pairs associated with the new resourceto a plurality of key/value pairs associated with each of a plurality ofexisting resources of the network.
 11. The method of claim 10, in theevent that the unique key/value pair of the plurality of key/value pairsassociated with the new resource matches a key/value pair associatedwith one of the plurality of existing resources of the network, furthercomprising: comparing each remaining key/value pair of the plurality ofkey/value pairs associated with the new resource to each remainingkey/value pair of the plurality of key/value pairs associated with theone of the plurality of existing resources of the network.
 12. Themethod of claim 10, in the event that the unique key/value pair of theplurality of key/value pairs associated with the new resource does notmatch with any key/value pairs associated with the plurality of existingresources of the network, further comprising: creating a new normalizedresource from the new resource.
 13. A system for managing at least oneresource of a network, the system comprising: a detecting moduleconfigured to detect a new resource on the network comprising at leastone existing resource; a comparing module configured to compare the newresource with the at least one existing resource to determine if the newresource is a partial view of the at least one existing resource; acorrelating module configured to correlate the new resource with the atleast one existing resource.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein thecorrelating module is further configured to: correlate the new resourcewith the at least one existing resource in the event the new resource isa partial view of the at least one existing resource, the partial viewof the at least one existing resource including a newly detected accesspoint; and generate a new normalized resource view in the event that thenew resource is not a partial view of the at least one existing resourceof the network.
 15. The system of claim 13 wherein the comparing moduleis further configured to: match a plurality of key/value pairsassociated with the new resource with a plurality of key/value pairsassociated with the at least one existing resource of the network; anddetermine that the new resource correlates with the at least oneexisting resource of the network if the plurality of key/value pairsassociated with the new resource matches the plurality of key/valuepairs associated with the at least one existing resource of the network.16. The system of claim 13 further comprising: a user interface moduleconfigured to present access points of the at least one existingresource of the network to a network user, wherein the access pointsallow the network user to alter the configuration of the at least oneexisting resource of the network to manage the network.
 17. The systemof claim 16 wherein the correlating module is further configured to:merge the partial view of the at least one existing resource with anormalized view of the at least one existing resource.
 18. The system ofclaim 17 wherein the normalized view of the at least one existingresource includes at least one access point to manage the at least oneexisting resource and the partial view of the at least one existingresource includes a newly detected access point to manage the at leastone existing resource.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the mergednormalized view of the at least one existing resource includes the atleast one access point to manage the at least one existing resource andthe newly detected access point to mange the at least one existingresource.
 20. The system of claim 19 wherein the user interface moduleis further configured to: provide the merged normalized view of the atleast one existing resource to the network user through the networkinterface, wherein the network user may access the normalized view ofthe at least one existing resource through the user interface to alterthe configuration of the at least one existing resource on the networkto manage the network.